Andre Schurrle has revealed what caused his departure from Chelsea years ago and few can believe it.
The former striker did not lack the courage to fight for his place at Stamford Bridge under Jose Mourinho.
It was food poisoning from eating dodgy chicken in international matches that hastened the end of his first spell in England.
The former Borussia Dortmund star, now 32 and retired, fell ill following a trip with Germany three months after playing a key role in their 2014 World Cup triumph.
Speaking about the incident, Schurrle said: "It was a bit of chicken and I've never eaten chicken since. It was just me. It was an away match in Poland."
"You see how weak I am, so to lose three, four, five kilos, it took me a long time to get my strength back. I was sick and I really felt like I couldn't get out of bed. We found out it was salmonella."
After a promising first season at Chelsea, Schurrle fell behind Eden Hazard and Willian.
"I had pretty good statistics, important goals and trust from the coach too. I had bad salmonella, I got really weak and I never had the chance to recover," the German continued with his story.
"It happened when I had the opportunity to return to Germany and Mourinho let me go and represent the country."
Schurrle is now a vegetarian - "very vegan" - but his time at Chelsea didn't leave a bad taste in his mouth.
He and Mourinho remained on good terms following his move to Wolfsburg in February 2015 and in the following months, he received two unexpected messages from the Portuguese.
Schurrle said: "He sent a message the day after the League Cup to say 'Congratulations, League Cup winner!'".
"Then he sent me a message after they won the title and said: 'Congratulations, champions of England! Please come to the ceremony - we're having a party with all the boys.'"
"It was a nice gesture and if I had time I would have gone for sure. It's strange. Not being there and then getting the medal, you feel like part of the team, but not the majority, because you left in the first half and the team did the rest."
"I probably don't have the same feeling as the guys who were there all season," Schurrle added.
Schurrle announced his shocking decision to retire from football when he was just 29 years old in July 2020.
The World Cup winner canceled his contract with Dortmund after a loan spell at Spartak Moscow. /Telegraph/
